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Saturday, May 30, 2015

When I meet writers who are looking to get published, they often ask me how I
decide where to start my story, who the characters will be, and how I plot.

So as I’m preparing to write my next book, I thought I’d give you some insight
into my process.

1. Thinking. Maybe mulling is the more correct word. I have to have the main
character pretty well defined in my mind before starting to write. The
secondary characters come into the story to support the main character—and
sometimes they surprise even me.

2. Creating a schedule. Writing, of course, is not always controlled by that
effervescent muse (Annette—I’m probably using effervescent wrong). Writing is
part creativity, and part science. Editing definitely falls into the science
category, as well as actually completing a book. Like any writer, I’m
constantly pulled in different directions. But once I decide on a book, I need
to create the schedule to get it completed, and limit any other stories in my
head that are trying to derail priority number 1. For example, if I decide to
turn in a book on December 1st to my publisher and I start on August 1st, I
divide the word count by the number of writing days. And I leave a couple of
weeks in for editing. August: 25,000 words (average 1,000 words a day, 5
days/week). September: 25,000 words, October: 25,000 words, November: 10,000 (2
weeks), 2 weeks of edits.

3. Character sketching. This is an evolving process and changes and grows as I
get further into the writing process. For instance, when I write my first
draft, my character motivations aren’t usually ironed out. I’m writing mostly
plot and dialog. About half-way through draft 1, I’ve had to make solid decisions
about my characters, so I’m adding information to my character sketches as I
go. So during the 2nd draft, I’m inserting more characterization to the
beginning of the book.

4. Point of view & tense: I take into consideration who my audience will be
and who the most important characters are. Will the story happen in real time
(present tense) or past tense? Will my characters speak in first person (ideal
for YA), or third person? It’s a lot of work to change this part of the
process, so doing your research beforehand will save you a lot of time later.

5. Conflict. This goes hand in hand with character sketching. I have to ask
myself what is the main conflict of the book, and of each character.

6. Beginning. Now that I have some basics going and I actually sit down to
write, I usually concentrate on where I want the story to begin. Not to say
that the first chapter I write will be the actual first chapter of the book,
but I start pretty near the beginning. Before I start a chapter/scene, I ask
myself: “What is the point of the chapter? What will be accomplished? What will
it show that may/may not be relevant to the story as a whole?”

7. Creating a scene. I create scenes in several phases. Phase 1: writing and
not caring too much about “fleshing out” the characters or the description, but
I am nailing down the direction of the scene. Phase 2: revising the scene and
inserting more description, making more concrete decisions about the character.
Phase 3: this will happen when the whole book is drafted and maybe new
developments have happened along the way. So I now have to go back through each
scene to make sure the story is properly directed. As you can see, creativity
has just been replaced by careful analysis (science).

Okay, looking over this list makes me wonder why I even start a new book. Every
writer has what works for them. My style might be convoluted, but you never
know, it might work for you as well.